In healthy elderly subjects, the 6-MWT represents a submaximal exercise, but at almost 80% of the VO2(max). To be exploitable, two familiarization attempts are required to limit the learning effect. Finally, the 6-MWT time of day must be taken into account when assessing HR.

Chronic physical training may induce morphological and useful functional adaptations which affect all cardiac chambers. Morphological modifications are mainly modest and far from pathologic ones. All these adaptations seem helpful for sport's performance. Hemodynamic and neurohumoral stresses depend on the muscular exercise type performed, static or dynamic. However, sports-specific adaptive cardiac structural changes are yet debated. Actually, it appears that highly trained athletes develop a left ventricular fair combination of cavity dilatation and increased wall thickness. Thus, it is not possible to clearly separate a strength-trained from an endurance-trained athlete's heart. However, this review shows that some specific cardiac adaptations mainly linked to the specific training stimulus may be observed. Dilatation slightly predominates in dynamic endurance-trained athletes whereas increased wall thickness slightly predominates in dynamic resistance- and static-trained athletes. Thus, assessment of athletes' echocardiographic parameters should take into account both sport and training specificities practiced, in terms of quantity and contents.

J players show the most eccentric LV remodelling compared with C and AC players. In association, certain training-related ECG patterns, i.e. sinus bradycardia and isolated increase in R/S-wave voltage, are present in a larger proportion of J players than previously described in C players. Conversely, no J athlete showed deeply T-wave inversion, as commonly found in AC and occasionally in C.